A HIGHLY respected head teacher is unlikely to set foot in a classroom in Britain again – despite being cleared of assaulting a pupil.

The Daily Echo understands that Eve Ritchie-Fallon will not return to the Forest Education Centre in Dibden Purlieu in the wake of a controversial court hearing last year.

Now, the 57-year-old, who is credited with turning around the fortunes of the failing school, could retire and may even look into volunteering abroad.

The news comes nearly 12 months after she was cleared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court of assaulting a 15-year-old boy who refused to stop smoking.

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It is thought tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been wasted on the two-year saga through costly court hearings, internal inquiries and suspending Mrs Ritchie- Fallon on full pay.

Now the county has lost one of its most talented head teachers after what has been described as a “shameful and costly situation”.

Earlier this year there were calls for her to be re-instated at the centre, which deals with some of the worst behaved pupils in the county.

Although she has not been disqualified from returning, she has not started the school term in her old post and sources say it is likely she will now leave by mutual consent.

The situation has been described by the chairman of the school’s management committee as “extremely sad”.

Brian Dash, who is also a Hampshire county councillor for Hythe, said: “It seems to me that she may retire.

“It was costly in financial terms, but it was also costly to Eve herself and to the children who have been deprived of her services.

“If she does decide to go abroad and volunteer, good luck to her.

She’s had a long career and a lot of children have benefited from her ability and commitment over the years.

“She is a very good manager and an Ofsted investigation confirmed that when she was here.

“I would say that the whole thing is extremely sad.”

After taking over in 2001 Mrs Ritchie-Fallon transformed the failing unit into one heaped with praise by inspectors.

She was suspended on full pay in November 2008 after being accused of slapping a pupil around the face – a charge she denied.

At her trial, prosecution witnesses included a 15-yearold boy who admitted that he had been smoking cannabis on the morning of the incident and only half of what he told police at the time could now be believed.

Despite being cleared, Mrs Ritchie-Fallon was later forced to attend a disciplinary hearing following an internal inquiry conducted by Hampshire County Council.

A spokesman from the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Schools budgets are tight and taxpayers can’t afford to pay out for nothing.

“Measures should be taken to ensure this shameful and costly situation doesn’t occur again.”

Last night, Mrs Ritchie-Fallon declined to comment at her home near Lymington.